Ode to Conservation

Even before my first glimpse of the world
I was assailed by sound.
The insistent knocking of a woodpecker, intent in it's task.
The mocking laughs of hyenas.
An insistent bullfrog makes his appeal for a mate.
The droning and buzzing of insects.
The trumpeting roar of an elephant, the chattering screams of chimps.
The sweet sounds of birds chatting, gossiping, making nests for the breeding season.
Like a bustling community, the air was alive with sound.

I opened my eyes and was greeted with
the very vibrancy of life.
Every hue and every shade of every color
was represented.
The verdant greens of the leaves and grass, the brilliant gold of the sun.
A flash of red in the bush - a tail of a squirrel, more interested in his search for nuts.
A shy brown eye peeks out from the treetop - a lemur looks out on the world.
Earthy browns and tans float by, patterend like camoflage tablecloths. A herd of Giraffe.
Colors, textures, feathers, fur and scales. All were a sight to behold.
Some melded with their surroundings so well as to seem
a part of that tree or rock on which they sat.

Something rings false.
They are not preying upon each other, as they would in nature.
What then is this congress about?
My eyes are caught and held by that gentle lemur.
In his eyes I see. They must band together
to survive the worst predator of all.
It is unnatural.

The air gets cold, the sun wan and sickly.
The noises are becoming fainter until
an eerie silence reigns.
The silence is deafening.
A ghost of a wind wails
for the diversity of nature, gone.
For the riches of earth, gone.
The rebuke is just, but it is too late.

Man wails and beat his fists on the deadened ground.
And appeals for another chance, to bring life back to this desolate place.
I turn my back and walk away.
The speaker for the dead.
The living monument to the folly of Mankind.

Think you in your arrogance to bring them back?
With your sciences and progress,
and refrigerated genes?
To what end? To prove your mastery over nature?
Over the glorious mystery that is Life?
Were the billions of dollars worth
the annihalation of the rainforests?

Stand now and watch
the slow death of Earth,
our nurturing mother.
And know that it was within you to prevent it.
All the while.